hinny

/ˈhi-nē/ (ame, mw)

hinny — noun

1. the animal you get by breeding a male horse with a female donkey; smaller than a

1.名詞C2
釋義

the animal you get by breeding a male horse with a female donkey; smaller than a mule, almost always unable to have babies of its own.

例句

On Hugo's farm in the Pyrenees, two stubborn hinnies pulled the cart up the steep mountain track.

countable noun: a/the hinny, plural hinnies

Most hinnies are sterile, so breeders cannot produce a second generation from them.

typical fact stated about the species

同義詞
  • mule

    the reverse cross (donkey mother, horse father); more common and usually larger

用法筆記

Distinguish from mule: a mule's mother is a donkey and father is a horse; a hinny is the reverse cross. Both are usually sterile.

常見錯誤

❌A hinny is the baby of two donkeys.
✅A hinny is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.
💡a hinny is always a cross between two different species, never two donkeys.
❌Hinnies and mules are the same animal.
✅Hinnies and mules are different crosses: a mule has a donkey mother, a hinny has a horse mother.
💡the parents' species are swapped, and the resulting animals look and behave differently.